The present invention relates to a self-deploying airfoil for a missile or the like and, more particularly, a flexible and resilient airfoil that is foldable on itself in close proximity to the missile in a stowed position so that it may be received in a launch tube or the like.
Improved missile performance, range and payload are achieved through the use of an airfoil on a missile or the like. In cases where the missile is launched from a launch tube, it is necessary that the airfoil be stowed in close proximity to the missile so that it can be received in the launch tube. When the missile is launched, the airfoil must be constructed so that it is deployed after the missile leaves the launch tube.
Up to the present time, various types of deployable airfoils for missiles or the like have been utilized. While they have generally served the purpose, they have been subject to one or more of the following disadvantages:
1. They have been complicated in construction;
2. They have been unreliable in operation;
3. They have required modifications to the missile which reduce the structural integrity or payload capacity thereof;
4. They have been expensive to manufacture; and/or
5. They have taken up too much space in their stowed position so as to make it difficult to load the missile in a launch tube; and/or
6. The airfoil is not sufficiently rigid when deployed and thus cannot handle high speed flight and/or aerothermal heating.